No charges for NBC host over magazine

January 12, 2013

WASHINGTON - NBC journalist David Gregory won't face charges for displaying a high-capacity ammunition magazine on his "Meet the Press" news program last month, District of Columbia prosecutors announced Friday. The city's Office of the Attorney General said criminal charges wouldn't serve the public's best interests even though possession of the magazine - capable of holding up to 30 rounds of ammunition - was clearly against local gun laws.

"Influencing our judgment in this case, among other things, is our recognition that the intent of the temporary possession and short display of the magazine was to promote the First Amendment purpose of informing an ongoing public debate about firearms policy in the United States, especially while this subject was foremost in the minds of the public" after the Connecticut school massacre and President Barack Obama's address to the nation, D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan wrote.